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You must be in the know that as a small business owner, you can be everything your company needs. The Marketing Manager, Accountant, Social Media Consultant, Customer Service Specialist and many more. What’s good about doing business in the contemporary world is that numerous apps can help you work better as an entrepreneur by lightening the load for you. Here are some of the top small business apps in various categories:
Effective communication is essential for the daily operations of small businesses. The communication apps listed below will help improve productivity within your firm.
Fuze: This video conferencing app hosts online meetings for all operating systems and devices including tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy and iPads. Fuze offers crisp audio and high-definition video. Apart from that, it is easy to download and set up, and it is advisable to contact the company for custom pricing.
Addapt: The app aids in contact management. Its flexibility allows your business acquaintances, family and friends to update their contact information in your address book as long as they also use the app. The app also enables you to send messages and organize your contacts into groups. Addapt is free for Android and iOS users.
Slack: This app will help you organize the conversations by your team into private and public channels through its instant messaging platform. You will also be at ease to share, drag and drop PDFs, images, and other files right in the chat. Besides, Slack automatically indexes and archives any file, notification or message and it has no limit as to the number of users your business can add. Slack is available for free on a trial basis after which you can upgrade to a paid plan that adds more controls and features. Prices range from about $7 for the standard plan to $12 for the Plus plan. Both plans have unlimited app integration, a full archive of message history, group calls and guest access while the Plus plan’s features include a single sign-on substantiation and compliance exports for all messages. Slack also has numerous virtual work-spaces to join where any person from any part of the world can join in and discuss issues pertinent to specific topics.
Skype: Skype is one of the oldest and most useful video conferencing apps. It allows you to voice or video call any of your business associates, family and friends located in any part of the world. Moreover, you can transmit video, get up to 25 people together on a call, transmit files and photos of any size and send voice and text messages as well as share your computer screen. Skype’s basic version is free, and it allows you to make calls with up to 25 people. You can, however, acquire Skype for Business at costs ranging from $5-$12.50 per month. The Skype for Business enables you to make calls and hold video meetings with up to 250 people.
Pushover: This app organizes notifications and messages from your device in a shared space and also sends push messages to any Smartphone. Pushover is appropriate for well-connected entrepreneurs with more than one device or phone. The app enables you to receive an unlimited amount of notifications on iOS, desktops and Android devices. You are also able to send 7,500 messages every month. You can start with the free seven-day trial after which you can buy platforms for $4.99 each.
QuickBooks: This accounting software can be used to track your business expenses and sales. You can also follow unpaid invoices, pay the vendors and your employees, view financial statements such as reports on loss and profits among other uses. QuickBooks connect to numerous accounts including Paypal, Square, credit cards, your business bank account and it seamlessly uploads data from these accounts. The software makes it easy to work on your business taxes since it tracks expenses and allows you to upload images of receipts from your phone. QuickBooks is accessible on your Android tablet, iPhone, Android phone and iPad. You can get the 30-day free trial, but the price for plans range from $5-$35per month depending on your business needs.
Gusto: The app is useful in streamlining your company’s tax, benefits and payroll processes. It also automatically reports newly employed people to the government and handles all federal, state and local tax filings. The basic price for this app is $39 per month plus an additional $6 per employee per month.
Wave: This is a simple and easy to use accounting software platform designed specifically for sole proprietors, small businesses and independent contractors who have nine or fewer employees. The app enables business owners to track expenses and sales, manage customer payments, generate accounting reports and pay employees. You can download Wave for free from the company’s website
FreshBooks: If you are a freelance worker operating on temporary workspaces or using a virtual office, this app helps you to manage and track invoices in the most straightforward way. FreshBooks allows you to create customized professional looking invoices, accept credit cards on your mobile device and automatically bill clients. The app is also able to create personalized business reports such as loss and profits since it can track and organize expenses from anywhere. The app’s costs range from $15-$50 per month based on the number of clients your business has. You can also test it with the free 30-day trial.
My Minutes: For those entrepreneurs who are not able to stay focused on essential tasks, My Minutes can ground you by setting specific time frames for doing things such as checking email, work out and engaging in Facebook chats. You can get the desktop version for free and purchase the app at$2.99 for iPad, iPod and iPhone devices.
Rescue Time: This is a time tracking app that shows you how much time you and your employees have spent on websites and applications. It gives an accurate picture of how you spend your day. The Rescue time Lite version if free while the Premium version costs $9 per month. The company offers a 14 -day free trial.
TripIt: This app is suitable for planning travels since it arranges all the trips in a single, mastery program that you can access on any device and at any time. To use TripIt effectively, you must forward all your travel emails to the app. You can also find directions to the airport, view weather reports, as well as check departure times and delays. TripIt basic is free, and the TipIt Pro is $49 per year. The app works with Windows Phone7, iPhones, PCs and Macs.
OmniFocus: This app is useful in showing you what is due and when. It also syncs with the desktop and the phone as well as reviews completed tasks. OmniFocus has various versions with costs ranging from $39.99 to$79.99. You can use the app with your Macs, iPads, Apple Watch and iPhones.
Proven: This app makes your hiring process easy as it allows you to post all your job listings to several job boards using a single click on your Smartphone. Proven also enables you to sort through many application responses in few minutes, categorize applicants and indicate when you follow up with a candidate. Proven is most useful to businesses that have inconsistent hiring needs such as retail and restaurants. You can download Proven for free on Android and iOS to get a 10-day free trial, and the price is dependent on the number of jobs you have.
Asana: This app is appropriate for the improvement of business communication and collaboration. It helps you view all projects and tasks and follow progress on its board. Asana also enables you to communicate without having to rely on email since you can upload files and share notes. The app integrates with slack for communication as well as Dropbox and Google Drive for file attachment. The basic version is free and can be used by up to 15 people. The premium version costs $9.99 per month. You can use Asana on your desktop, Android and iOS.
Trello: This is a simple and easy to use the app for managing projects. It track’s your team’s workflow and allows you to add members, attachments, due dates, comments, labels and stickers to make graphic cards that represent assignments and any changes you make on the card is communicated to your team members. You can use the app for free on the android, web and iOS devices. The cost of advanced versions ranges from $9.99-$20.83.
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